ORLANDO, FLA – Playing in game 14 of a 15-game stretch against South division opponents, the Orlando Solar Bears carried a 7-4-1-1 record into Thursday night’s home game against the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. With just nine divisional contests left, every single point could be the difference between making the Kelly Cup playoffs and spending a second straight season watching the post-season from afar.
Milos Bubela scored two power play goals for Orlando Thursday night (Photo courtesy of Fernando Medina / Orlando Solar Bears)
Orlando could not afford to take a loss and leave points on the table but that is exactly what it did.
Ahti Oksanen tallied two goals and four points while teammate Michael Joly netted a pair of scores as the Swamp Rabbits (32-20-4-1, 69 points) defeated the Solar Bears (28-20-6-3, 65 points) 7-5 in front of an announced crowd of 4,194 at the Amway Center. While the win pushed Greenville four points clear of Orlando in the race for second place in the division, the Solar Bears were left searching for positives from a game they could have and should have won.
“I think the start was very frustrating. We didn’t come out with any jam. We didn’t get within our structure. Obviously we could all see the first period just wasn’t a good period,” Orlando interim head coach John Snowden said. “But I thought the thing that we [can] take away [from the game] was that we battled back. We clawed back into it, giving up four goals in the first then we answer back right away in the second. That’s what we’ve got to look for. I mean you’ve got to take a positive out of it.”
Thursday was an opportunity for rookie goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo to take the reigns in net as Ryan Massa was sidelined with an undisclosed injury. Unfortunately for Kaskisuo, the Swamp Rabbits were ready to bite the home team – and bite hard. Just 1:08 into the game, Joly rang a shot off the post. Oksanen was in the right place to get the rebound and give it right back to Joly who did not miss on the second try, going over the goalie’s left shoulder for his 18th of the season.
Orlando came back to even things up less than six minutes later thanks to its power play. Forward Eric Faille did the heavy lifting, using his speed and power to split the defense and get in on Greenville netminder Mackenzie Skapski. Faille drew Skapski to his side before dishing a pretty backhand pass to Bubela who hit the wide open side of the net for his fourth goal of the season and third as a Solar Bear.
Bubela’s tally seemed to draw the Solar Bears fully into the game. The offense picked up and Skapski found himself in a shooting gallery as Orlando amassed a 13-4 shot advantage as the clock ticked inside of nine minutes left in the opening frame.
That was when the roof caved in.
At the 11:46 mark, Allan McPherson intercepted a clearing attempt by the Solar Bears and fed the puck to Oksanen. Oksanen then threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to Joly who rocketed a shot to the top corner on Kaskisuo’s glove side for his second score of the game. Three minutes later, an odd-man rush led to yet another Swamp Rabbits goal when Trevor Gerling dropped a pass back to Oksanen who was trailing the play. From between the circles, Oksanen ripped a drive past the goalie’s stick side for his 16th of the season and a 3-1 Greenville lead.
Orlando’s defensive play, which seemed to have issues in the back half of the period, had a complete meltdown at the 17:44 mark. As the Solar Bears tried to clear their zone, Joe Houk took the puck and immediately sent a pass toward the crease where Nick Betz was standing with no defender in the same zip code. Betz had time to make a couple of stick-handling moves before depositing the puck in the back of the net for his third goal of the year.
“I just think we were a little disjointed. We weren’t getting into our spots in our defensive zone coverage. We were running around,” Snowden said about the way the Solar Bears performed in the opening period. “They did a good job of moving their F-3 [third forward high] really high on that and I think we lost some coverage on that. It’s one of those things. We’re going to look at the video and ovbiously break it down and have a video session tomorrow [Friday] and make sure we shore that up.”
The first intermission could not come quick enough for the Solar Bears but when it did, it made a huge difference. Whatever was said in the locker room became a catalyst for a comeback. That comeback started again with the man advantage when Skapski repelled a shot by Chris Bradley but the rebound came out to Bubela who banged it home for his second of the game at the 7:33 mark.
The score remained 4-2 Greenville until late in the stanza when Brenden Miller, who scored his first career AHL goal from center ice last week, proved that he could go long range in the ECHL. On a dump into the Swamp Rabbits end, the puck came off the end boards at an angle that took it right to the post to Skapski’s right. The Greenville goalie was a little slow in getting to the post and when he did, the puck hit his skate and snuck inside the post for Miller’s tenth of the season.
“I was just getting the puck deep, avoiding the hit and getting the puck behind the goal line,” Miller said. “I honestly don’t know what happened. I just heard everyone cheering.”
Those cheers that Miller got grew even louder when with less than 20 seconds left in the period, the Solar Bears evened the score. It came when Joe Perry grabbed the rebound of a shot by Bubela and with his body below the goal line somehow managed to send the puck past a diving Skapski for his team-leading 29th goal.
Not content with a tie after two, Greenville launched one last foray and made it pay off. Brandon Alderson moved the puck up to Houk along the wing to Kaskisuo’s left. He got into the face-off circle and fired a shot to the far side that glanced off the goalie’s blocker glove and bounced in with 3.7 seconds left for his 12th goal to give the Swamp Rabbits a 5-4 lead heading to the final frame.
Lifted by its play in the second, Orlando came out in the third and found a way to knot the score once again. This time it was Faille doing the honors with a wraparound that beat Skapski between the legs for his 18th goal of the season.
Faille’s tally seemed to cement the fact that maybe on this night the Solar Bears had lady luck on their side. Unfortunately, she turned her eye in the direction of the Swamp Rabbits and allowing them to regain the lead.
Eight minutes into the period, Greenville steamed up ice on an odd-man rush. Joly, who carried the puck into the offensive zone, tried to make a cross-slot pass to a teammate but Orlando’s defense broke it up. The loose puck skidded back to Oksanen who was trailing the play and he fired it home between Kaskisuo’s legs for his second of the game and 17th of the year.
The Solar Bears’ newly found buzzard’s luck became even more magnified with 7:56 left in regulation when what appeared to be a game-tying goal was waived off. The replay showed Austin Block charging the net and the puck came off his skate and slithered through Skapski’s pads. It hit the inside of the post and before Block could get his stick on it, the puck crossed the goal line. Referee Mike Sheehan immediately signaled no goal, determining that Block’s skate made a distinct kicking motion toward the net. After consulting with his linesmen and the goal judge, the call stood.
Orlando had one last shot to tie the game and sent it to overtime when Alderson was sent off for hooking with 1:34 left in regulation. Snowden pulled Kaskisuo for an extra attacker but Greenville won the defensive zone face-off back to Andrew Dommett who sent the puck to center ice. Swamp Rabbits captain Bretton Cameron tracked it down and sailed it into the empty net for his 19th of the season and third short-handed tally to seal the victory.
Bubela, who now has 15 points in 18 games with Orlando since coming over in a trade from Wheeling, said that the Solar Bears need to take the loss as a learning experience and move forward.
“It was pretty disappointing for the whole team. We all know it. We realize that we [need to] take a lesson out of it,” he said. “We kind of lost the game in the first period. We just [need to] take a lesson out of it and keep preparing for Saturday.”
Notes: Skapski finished the night with 47 saves – 22 of them in the third period – to earn his 16th win while Kaskisuo stopped 26 shots in the loss… Orlando’s special teams were solid, going 2-for-4 on the power play and killing off both of Greenville’s man advantage opportunities… With Massa put on reserve, the Solar Bears signed goalie Charlie Millen, son of former NHL metminder Greg Millen, to a tryout contract to back up Kaskisuo… Faille’s assist on Bubela’s first period goal was his 30th of the year… Solar Bears head coach Drake Berehowsky was released from a local hospital earlier in the week following his medical emergency last week… The two teams will complete their season series Saturday night at the Amway Center. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
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